


Evermore

by adamwhatareyouevendoing



Category: Death in Paradise
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Living Together, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-12 12:07:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28635219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adamwhatareyouevendoing/pseuds/adamwhatareyouevendoing
Summary: Madeleine has been hoping to persuade Ruby to stay in Paris for a couple of weeks after her secondment ends. Ruby, it seems, has other ideas.
Relationships: Madeleine Dumas/Ruby Patterson
Comments: 9
Kudos: 15





	Evermore

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rubiconwrites](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rubiconwrites/gifts).



> So, Madeleine and Ruby are working and living together in Paris now? Honestly, Good For Them.
> 
> This show didn't deserve them, but we sure as hell do.

“Ruby, I’m home!” Madeleine calls, the door to their apartment closing softly behind her as she places her keys onto the sideboard.

Ruby’s haphazard return, judging by the scattered collection of personal effects within a short radius from the welcome mat, will have involved a great deal more noise, she’s certain. Thankfully, Ruby has already charmed their neighbours—an achievement that Madeleine hasn’t managed in two years here, and is both amusing and baffling by turns.

Her neighbours, she has to remind herself gently, not theirs. This is her apartment. Ruby is only here for a month on secondment. She shouldn’t get too used to having someone else around the place, especially when Ruby’s particularly whirlwind brand of living will soon sweep out of her house and her life for good—

Which, judging by the sudden, violent clattering that issues from the kitchen, might not be a bad thing for her crockery.

“Hi, Sarge!” Ruby shouts over the commotion, poking her head briefly into the living room to give Madeleine a radiant smile. The pungent smell of burning accompanies her. “Oh, umm—one sec!” she adds. “Go and get changed, dinner won’t be long!”

“I can help with that,” Madeleine offers, following Ruby into the kitchen to find her wafting a frantic hand over the food she has just pulled from the oven, charred and smoking. Luckily, Ruby is too distracted to notice Madeleine offer a silent, wide-eyed apology to whatever poor ingredient she has grilled to within an inch of its life.

“No, I’ve got it, don’t worry,” Ruby says, flashing her another winning smile. One thing Madeleine has never been able to fault is her enthusiasm. “It’s just that you’ve been working so hard recently, what with the promotion and everything, and I thought I could take some of the weight off your shoulders by trying my hand at doing the cooking.”

Her nose wrinkles slightly as she looks down on the blackened remains of their dinner, and Madeleine has no desire to exchange her kindness for disappointment.

“I’ll tell you what, how about you safely dispose of anything that can’t be salvaged, and once I’ve changed, I’ll show you how to make the best fricassee this side of Paris? My maman’s recipe.”

Ruby’s blinding smile is back in full force, as bright and beautiful as the morning sunrise, and Madeleine beats a hasty retreat to save whatever dignity she has left.

(It’s all her own fault anyway. Ruby is a colleague and a friend, and Madeleine is only a fool for falling in love with her.)

She takes a few, deep steadying breaths once in the sanctuary of her bedroom, cracking the shutters open wide to bring in a welcome wave of fresh air. It’s nothing like the warm breeze of Saint Marie, of course, carrying the whisper of the surf and the sigh of the trees, but it’s home.

Her home, filled with the sound of Ruby’s loud and wonderfully out of tune singing.

Madeleine finds herself humming along as she hangs her suit in the wardrobe, only for a jaunty ringtone to cut through the domestic haze. Neither the phone nor Ruby’s singing stops after a few moments.

“Ruby, phone!” Madeleine tries, already making her way back towards the living room. She reaches out for the mobile just as the ringing ends and the screen flashes its notifications up at her. Madeleine can’t help but glance at the display.

Four missed calls, all from JP. Below that, an unread text chain.

For a moment, the room falls silent, and Madeleine throws a guilty glance towards the kitchen. The song Ruby was listening to has just come to an end, she realises—that’s all. She hasn’t been caught snooping.

It’s none of Madeleine’s business, really. JP and Ruby are friends, and it’s perfectly normal that he’d think to check in with her, especially with the sudden nature of their departure from the island. But, for whatever reason, Ruby is clearly ignoring his attempts to contact her.

There’s a mystery there, Madeleine thinks, but it’s not her responsibility to solve it. Not until after dinner, at least.

Ruby has moved on to an enthusiastic rendition of a Beyoncé song Madeleine vaguely recognises by the time she joins her in the kitchen. She slides a glass of wine across the counter like a peace offering.

“I thought this might help make amends,” Ruby says with a rueful smile. The lingering smell of smoke is only faint, now.

Madeleine arches an eyebrow, suppressing her own smile. “A bribe, Officer Patterson?”

“Maybe,” she hums playfully. “You gonna discipline me now, Sarge?”

Her voice is warm, but the words shouldn’t unfurl in Madeleine’s stomach the way they do. “I’ll put you over my knee later,” she returns lightly, hoping against hope that it sounds more casual than she feels. “And that’s Inspector to you.”

Ruby laughs, loud and infectious, and Madeleine lets herself relax again. “I told you, if you won’t let me call you Maddie, I’ll have to stick to Sarge,” she teases. “It’s respectful. It’s endearing.”

“It’s unnecessary,” Madeleine adds, returning Ruby’s amused smile as she turns to preheat the oven.

The next hour proves that although not gifted with culinary skill, Ruby is a diligent and eager student. It’s a testament to everything she does—everything Madeleine has seen her achieve in the months they’ve known each other. Ruby seems to flourish under her praise, like a sunflower following the light.

“This is delicious,” she raves once they are seated and eating, waving her fork as if to emphasise the point.

“There’s nothing more I enjoy in life than good food, good wine and good art,” Madeleine says. Ruby’s eyes are wide with awe and—adoration can’t be the word, she thinks. Affection, maybe. “And good company,” she’s inspired to add, mostly for the satisfaction of seeing Ruby’s dawning smile at the compliment.

Of course, that’s the moment Ruby’s phone decides to ring again, interrupting their shared gaze with its shrill vibrations.

“Oh!” Ruby exclaims, snatching it quickly from the coffee table. She seems unsurprised by the call itself, but the caller is enough to give her pause. “It’s uncle Selly! I’d better not keep _him_ waiting.” She shoots Madeleine an apologetic glance, dashing into her bedroom with Madeleine’s understanding nod.

From the outside, Madeleine can only hear the faint strains of the Commissioner’s voice. Ruby’s side of the conversation she can hear, but she’s not certain she understands.

Ruby is clearly distracted when she returns to the living room. Madeleine tries to look as though she hadn’t been listening to every word as she finally questions the meaning of the ever-increasing number of phone calls.

“They wanted to know when I was coming back,” Ruby tells her, smoothing an uncertain hand across her dress.

Madeleine carefully does not follow the path of her fingers down to the thigh-high hemline. The dress is one of Madeleine’s favourites, not that she’s ever told Ruby. Her eyes may have lingered a little longer than is entirely appropriate, sometimes, but never more than that. For the first time tonight, she wonders whether Ruby chose to wear it deliberately.

“Oh,” Madeleine manages, taking a steadying sip of wine. She had been vainly hoping to persuade Ruby to stay for another couple of weeks, after her secondment ends. To take the chance to truly show her the city, beyond the few tourist attractions they’d been able to visit on the weekend and the few people she’d been able to introduce her to beyond her colleagues—her friends, her family. “When?”

“I said I wasn’t,” Ruby responds, taking her seat opposite Madeleine again. “I said I didn’t want to go back.”

Madeleine blinks in surprise, wine glass still half-raised to her parted lips. “What?”

“I told him I wanted to stay here.” Ruby laughs, then, clear and certain, and it’s the most beautiful sight Madeleine has ever seen, without question. “I want to stay,” she says. “I want to work with you all day, and come home to you at night. I want to spend my evenings laughing with your friends and cooking in your kitchen.”

Madeleine pretends to shudder with a horror she could never truly feel.

“Okay, fair point—you can cook and I’ll spend my evenings watching you,” Ruby amends easily. “I want to spend weekends and holidays with you, and travel across France to meet your mother and learn about your father.” She finds Madeleine’s hand across the table and entwines their fingers. “I want to stay long enough for you to forget that your idiot ex-boyfriend ever existed, and prove to you that he’s the one missing out, because everything worth having is right here, with you.”

“Oh,” Madeleine repeats. The dazed smile on her face is probably ridiculously elated by now. She squeezes Ruby’s fingers tight in hers. “How long are you planning on staying, then?”

“Indefinitely,” Ruby grins, and kisses her.


End file.
